Saint Augustine of Hippo

To be under pressure is inescapable. Pressure takes place through all the world; war, siege, the worries of state. We all know men who grumble under these pressures and complain. They are cowards. They lack splendour. But there is another sort of man who is under the same pressure but does not complain, for it is the friction which polishes him. It is the pressure which refines and makes him noble

God will not suffer man to have knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity, he would be careless; and understanding of his adversity, he would be senseless.

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.

If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing.

Punishment is justice for the unjust.

O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.

A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently.

God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.

The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell. -- St. Augustine

To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.